VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Nov. 8, 2018

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Contributed

Published: Nov 07 at 7:35 p.m.

Updated: Nov 08 at 6 a.m.

Herald coverage balanced

Re: Graeme Tweedie’s Nov. 5 letter taking columnist John DeMont and The Chronicle Herald to task for purveying “false news” and allegedly providing another reason for the public to hold journalists in “such low esteem.” I happened to read this just after our house guest, a woman from Montana, had praised Canadian media in general and the Herald in particular for their balanced coverage of politics in her home country.

I then went back to re-read DeMont’s column to try to figure out why Mr. Tweedie had reacted so negatively. When I did, I found that the words which caused him offence, relating to speculation over American tacit approval of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, came at the end of a paragraph that began, “Is it fair to blame the anti-media seeds that the president (Donald Trump) has sown?”

Taking your columnist’s words out of context and using those few words to slam a thoughtful and complex argument (and by extension, the editorial integrity of the Herald) can only help lead to the same sort of political polarization and extremism we now see among our southern neighbours.

John McIntyre, Parrsboro

Israel not in same league

Re: “Principles worth the price” (Oct. 30 letter). The author writes: “Integrity demands that Canada does not supply weapons to countries that are in direct violation of basic human rights.” He goes on to say that our prime minister is concerned that if we cancelled the $15-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, we could suffer economically, but to “bring it on.” Up to this point, I agreed with the author, but in his concluding sentence, he says: “Saudi Arabia and Israel are in direct violation of these most important principles ....” To lump Israel in with Saudi Arabia is grossly unjust and one can only wonder why this newspaper would print this egregious fallacy.

Who, besides the enemies of Israel, says it is in direct violation of basic human rights? Israel chooses to defend itself against those who seek its utter destruction. This is the basic right of every nation. Saudi Arabia can make no such claim.

Many U.S. reporters on the ground have interviewed people who talk about this. Some caravan members admit there are “bad people” among them. One said on camera (in Spanish) that he’s wanted for attempted murder and wants to come back to get a pardon! They are walking toward the U.S. with “their” flag and say they hate our president! And we should welcome them in our backyards? Why?